North Korea didn't show up at meeting with U.S.

By

Wooyoung Lee

South Korean (in grey shirt) and North Korean soldiers guard the inter-Korean military demarcation line against each other at the truce village of Panmunjom. Photo by Yonhap

SEOUL, July 12 (UPI) -- The U.S. and North Korea were scheduled to hold a meeting at the South Korean border village of Panmunjom on Thursday for talks on repatriation of remains of U.S. soldiers but North Korea reportedly didn't show up.

According to a diplomatic source in Seoul, North Korean officials have yet to show up as of 2 p.m. when U.N. military officials already headed to the meeting point in Panmunjom, Yonhap reported.

The Thursday talk was scheduled to begin in the morning with officials of the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.N. Command Security Battalion and North Korea, Newsis reported. But it didn't commence at the scheduled time as North Korean officials didn't show up.

U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un agreed to send back remains of U.S. soldiers died in the 1950-53 Korean War to the U.S. at their summit last month in Singapore.

Both sides were expected to discuss the timeline and ways in which remains of American soldiers would be returned at the meeting.

According to media reports, the U.S. military sent wooden cases to which the remains of soldiers will be transferred at the border. The U.S. military also prepared metal coffins at its Osan Air Base, south of Seoul, for a ceremony before sending them to the U.S.